Warriors in Vegas

Fresh off their 40-point beat down on the Lakers last night, the Warriors’ Summer League team continued their impressive start in Las Vegas with their second consecutive blow-out victory over the Nuggets, 95-74.

Yes, it’s Summer League and the result of these games means absolutely nothing in the grand scheme of things, but it does give us a glimpse of what we can expect from a few of the rookies and second-year players on Golden State’s roster.

Here’s a quick look at how the notable names looked in these first two games.

Klay Thompson

In case you didn’t know, this guy can flat out shoot the ball. He hit nine shots from three-point range in the two games and continued to display the confidence in his game that he displayed toward the end of last season. He also showed the ability to create dishing out five and four assists respectively which has to make the Warriors’ brass very happy given their need for a second playmaker outside of Curry this season.

With the way he played against the Lakers and Nuggets and his involvement with the U.S. Select team, it’s safe to say that Thompson won’t be playing much, if at all, for the rest of summer league. He should be giving more of the guys on the bench more playing time anyway. Did you see how many of them are sitting there? It looks like an elementary school team where everyone who tries out makes it.

Harrison Barnes

The top pick in this year’s draft proved that his shot was as good as advertised against the Lakers scoring 23 points in what could have been a “whatever you can do, I can do better” mini-battle with Klay. Although he struggled against the Nuggets, he’s been perfect from long distance over two games hitting all six of his attempts. If he can find a way to expand his game and get his teammates involved more, he will be a very dangerous weapon for the Warriors.

Charles Jenkins

Jenkins carried the Dubs’ offense in game two dropping a game high 24 points on 9 of 12 shooting. His mid-range game was absolutely on point thus earning him the nickname “Mr. Midrange” from teammate Stephen Curry on Twitter. It’s likely that he will also see less and less minutes as SL progresses since the team more or less knows what to expect from him, but with the recent acquisition of Jarrett Jack, he might want more court time to prove that he belongs in the mix at point guard this upcoming year.

Jeremy Tyler

To put it nicely, Tyler hasn’t gotten off to a very good start. As of right now, he’s committed more fouls than he’s scored points (seven to six) and still looks absolutely lost whenever he’s in the game. He’s been relatively invisible so far with his only highlight being a sequence where he didn’t catch the ball, managed to recover it…and then traveled. Womp womp.

Festus Ezeli

The rookie out of Vanderbilt has showed flashes of why the Warriors were thrilled to grab him with the number 30 pick in this year’s draft. He’s a big body who can clog up the lane but he’s also very active as demonstrated by his three blocks today (one of which I’m convinced almost broke the backboard). His offensive game isn’t much as of right now but if he provides the defense that he’s showed so far, he’ll get his fair share of court time this season. He might have already passed Tyler on the depth chart.

Draymond Green

Green appears to be a jack-of-all-trades-type of player. He’s rebounded well, made good decisions with the ball, played decent defense, and even showed off some of his long-range capabilities. With his long arms, his role this season will ultimately be to rebound, rebound and oh yes, rebound.

3 Responses

With players like Klay and Barnes looking to satrt at the SG and SF spots, who will start at the PG? I assume the reason the Warriors traded for Jack was certainly for that reason. what about Stephen Curry? Where will he fit in?